The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has started construction work on an ambitious road project that promises to decongest the Capital’s roads.
As per the Master Plan of Delhi 2021, the Capital will get three urban extension roads with a total length of more than 150 km.
These
three concentric ring roads will pass through the peripheral areas of northwest and south Delhi, joining national highways 1, 10, 8 and 2.

Thanks to these roads, vehicles not bound for Delhi but only passing through the city will not clog the main roads. Also, Delhiites driving out of the city would be able to get on one of these roads to reach any of the national highways faster, instead of meandering through inner roads.

Though the project has been in the pipeline for quite some time now, the DDA has finally started construction of the longest of all the three roads, the urban extension road 2. Starting from the Wazirabad bypass, it will connect NH-1, 10, 8 and 2.

“Construction on the UER 2 has begun and will be completed in different stretches. It is the biggest of the three roads and all the three roads are expected to be completed by 2015,” said a senior DDA official who didn’t wish to be named.

“Work on the other two roads is stuck due to encroachments along the route and also because land is yet to be acquired,” he said.

The DDA is going to hold a meeting next week with other land owning agencies and civic bodies to find a way out.

“Though the roads are meant to bypass the city and will come up in the periphery, they still pass through some very congested residential areas. That is why getting the required land had been a problem,” he said.

One of the ideas, however, that DDA is toying is with is to build elevated stretches in such areas.